Chapter 343: Captain Bai Grew a Little Jealous

“Boss.”

“Yesterday, a total of one hundred and thirty-seven newcomers registered and joined our studio.”

“With Wang Yuehui, Hong Kaibao, and Wang Zixuan helping out, we used the Caobang’s shipping network and the Qingfeng Escort Agency’s branches to bring these people out from various places and send them all into the Sanjiang Branch Helm. They are currently stationed at the docks, handling cargo unloading and transfer.”

Li Na took the opportunity to report another discovery to Wangchuan.

“During that time, we discovered that disciples of the Five Poisons Sect were trying to make contact with our people.”

Wangchuan instinctively frowned, his gaze sharpening.

“The Five Poisons Sect?”

Having clashed with the Five Poisons Sect before, he could be said to have a very deep impression of them.

“Our people are all right?”

“It looked like they were preparing to take our people into the deep mountains and bring them to one of their branch helms, but our men intervened in time and disrupted it. Although the other side had the cultivation of full-fledged martial artists, the teams we sent to receive people were all small squads from the Sanjiang Branch Helm, with three first-rank martial artists and several full-fledged martial artists in each. Once they saw things were going badly, they fled in advance, so no actual clash occurred.”

On the soil of Sanhe Commandery, the Five Poisons Sect still did not dare contend openly with the Caobang—especially after their branch helm leader had died at the hands of the Sanjiang Branch Helm.

Li Na continued,

“From the newly hired employees, we learned that the Five Poisons Sect also seems to be recruiting and expanding its branch helm in secret. And over this recent period, they may already have taken in quite a number of people… My conclusion is that the Five Poisons Sect has very likely thrown off its leaderless state and is quietly rising from the ashes.”

“You mean there’s a chance the Blackwind Stronghold is being used by the Five Poisons Sect again.”

A thoughtful look appeared in Wangchuan’s eyes.

Li Na nodded.

“Boss attacked the Blackwind Stronghold twice before and used the snake dens there to increase your strength dramatically. I think we should consider planting an informant inside one of the Five Poisons Sect’s branch helms and keep close watch on their development. If the snake dens are put to use again, or if the Five Poisons Sect makes a comeback, we won’t be caught passive and unprepared. We might even be able to use an insider to find an opportunity to strike the Five Poisons Sect first.”

Li Na’s proposal was extremely tempting to Wangchuan.

The progress of his 《Archery》 and 《Five-Finger Rapid Flick Technique》 had been slow. If he could achieve a breakthrough there, his ranged attack options would grow much stronger.

“The disciple we plant inside the Five Poisons Sect branch helm must be clever, steady, and capable of protecting himself.”

“Since Boss agrees, I’ll begin searching for a suitable candidate immediately.”

“Good.”

…

“Ding!”

System prompt:

“《Water-Moon Sword Art》 has advanced from ‘Minor Mastery’ to ‘Practice Makes Perfect,’ rewarding 2 points of Agility.”

Not long after logging in, Wangchuan pushed this fourth-rank martial art all the way to its current bottleneck!

That speed…

was terrifying!

Wangchuan then began cultivating 《Cloud Ladder》.

After practicing it for a while, he gained a certain understanding of this fourth-rank movement skill.

Then he called Bai Jingtang.

After picking up the call, her tone was one of clear surprise.

“I heard from Yuhui that you’ve already left Warring States Game Studio and gone off to form a new studio of your own. And yet you still have time to contact me these past two days… Are you trying to get advice from me and talk about studio matters?”

Captain Bai clearly already knew that he had become a studio owner.

Wangchuan laughed it off and said with a smile,

“As for studio matters, I don’t understand them either. It’s best to let the people arranged by the center handle that. The reason I’m troubling Captain Bai is that I’ve just obtained the movement skill 《Cloud Ladder》. I remember that Captain Bai cultivated this technique as well, so I’ve come specially to ask for guidance.”

“You just set up a studio, and you still have time to cultivate.”

Bai Jingtang could not help sighing in complaint.

“When I had just established my studio, I was rushed off my feet… But then again, you’re now the Deputy Hall Master of the Sanhe Commandery hall and concurrently the Branch Helm Leader of the Sanjiang Branch Helm. You have people when you need people, money when you need money, and connections when you need connections. You can settle newly hired employees with the greatest of ease…”

Captain Bai sounded, for once, a little jealous.

Perhaps sensing the shift in her own mood, she quickly stopped herself and changed the subject.

“All right!”

“I’ll tell you the key to cultivating 《Cloud Ladder》.”

“This technique has two points that can speed up cultivation… The first is the height of the leap. As long as you can leap upward with full force to a height of more than one zhang, you can enter the technique easily. I wasted a period of time there myself at first, but once I grasped the trick, I pushed it to the bottleneck very quickly.”

“And the second point?”

Wangchuan’s eyes brightened at once.

Without the slightest hesitation, Captain Bai replied,

“A standing vertical leap of three meters is fairly difficult, so you need to use internal force, breathing and circulation, and techniques for bursting out internal force together to greatly increase your explosive power and vertical lift. First get yourself to Entry Level. After that, if you combine it with bursts of internal force, every twenty attempts will give you 1 point of experience. That’s all there is to it.”

“However…”

“You’d best not exhaust your internal force completely.”

“If your internal force is depleted, your mental state will become very poor. If something happens at that moment, your strength will be greatly reduced, and that would be bad. All right then, go practice first.”

“Many thanks, Captain Bai!”

After Bai Jingtang laid out the experience she had summarized for herself one point at a time, she hung up.

Wangchuan returned to the game as though he had obtained a treasure and began changing his cultivation approach according to Bai Jingtang’s method, focusing single-mindedly on the vertical lift of 《Cloud Ladder》 and the explosive support of internal force.

And sure enough!

Once he combined internal force with the explosive burst of 《Cloud Ladder》, his body easily broke through a height of more than one zhang. Without borrowing force from a wall at all, he could go straight up to the roof.

《Cloud Ladder》 activated at Entry Level on the spot!

Wangchuan’s excitement surged.

He continued cultivating.

Every time he consumed 200 points of internal force, he came back down and circulated 《Xuanwu Art》 to recover it.

By dusk, Lin Jiahe, Chen Gang, Li Xiangyang, and Chen Dan, all dressed in Caobang disciple attire, walked into the training grounds from outside, visibly exhilarated.

A single day’s worth of seeing and hearing had already given them a great many insights into 《spirit realm》.

Especially after seeing that every martial art they had mastered had been fully digitized and displayed on the Status Panel with such clarity and fluency, far surpassing ordinary employees, all of them were excited beyond measure.

“To think there could be a game like this.”

“This is practically a game world custom-built for those of us who practice martial arts.”

“Exactly.”

“I never imagined that this game world actually contained such a huge collection of martial arts… The manuals in the Armory Manual Vault are just too expensive. Otherwise, I’d really want to buy a copy of 《Xuanwu Art》 immediately.”

Only now did Lin Jiahe finally understand that Su Wangchuan was not some disciple of an ancient martial family at all, but rather a player—a player flourishing magnificently within 《spirit realm》.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!!

As they stepped into the training grounds, the four of them heard the sound of clothing cutting through the air.

They followed the sound and looked…

Only to see Wangchuan, clad in majestic 《Thousand-Forged Battle Armor》, performing a straight vertical leap of more than three meters and landing atop the roof of the training grounds.

Rise!

Fall!

Rise!

Fall!

Again and again, in endless repetition.

Lin Jiahe and the other three stood there dumbstruck.

“What kind of skill is that?”

“A movement skill?”

“What kind of movement skill lets you jump that high?!”

All four of them felt as though the gates to an entirely new world had just been kicked open before them.

“Senior Brother!”

“This movement skill looks incredible. I want to learn it!” Chen Gang said, his eyes shining.

Chen Dan nodded vigorously.

“So do I!”